Environmental Craft Activities

Jewellery Pot

You need:

Das™ (white, air-drying clay available from craft shops – Das is pliable enough for young hands to manipulate); 485g per three students; spray paint.

What to do:

Create pot by holding clay in palm of one hand and pressing a hole in the middle with thumb/fingers of other hand.

Press in leaves and small nuts with stalks.

Spray paint.

(Alternatively, students paint their pots and when dry, glue on shells or nuts and seeds.)

Brooches

You need:

Plywood shapes and findings (found in craft shops) or else cut shapes from card and tape safety pins to the back; PVA glue; glue gun; paint; small objects found in the environment – either natural or built.

What to do:

Glue the findings to the plywood shapes, placing them towards the top so the brooch doesn’t droop when worn.

Arrange and glue objects to shape.

When dry, spray paint or allow students to paint. (If choosing latter option, you could finish each brooch with a quick spray of gold to enliven students’ painting.)

Enviro Creature

This activity will take two lessons, since the first lesson will involve the collection of environmental materials to use.

What to do:

Each student should collect a variety of environmental materials of his/her own choice. Spread them out on a sheet of newspaper and allow the students to experiment with them to see which are suitable for what part of the creature.

Once the students have decided on the arrangement of the materials, allow them to cut or shape their backing cardboard large enough to glue their creature onto. Make sure that there is enough room for a border.

Students should place their creature onto the backing cardboard, then, when they are satisfied with their arrangement, they should begin to glue each section down using strong glue.

When the creature is completely glued down, students may add eyes or hair using stones, feathers, ‘googly’ eyes, dried grass etc. or thick black marker pen.

A frame made from bark, sticks or gumnuts can be added to complete the design.

Box Masks

You need:

What to do:

Cut (ask a willing adult) corners off the boxes in the shape of masks.

Cut out eyes. Punch holes for string/elastic.

Glue on features.

When dry, paint and add string/elastic to fit student’s head.

‘Let’s Get Potty’

You will need:

A container suitable for a pot, for example an old margarine container or yoghurt container; good quality potting mix; a scoop; a cutting from a plant (a succulent is a good choice since these are waterwise plants, easily grown and able to survive neglect); thick paint; cut-outs from magazines or old cards; strong glue; scissors; environmental materials.
Make sure the pot has a drainage hole in the bottom to allow the excess water to run out.

What to do:

Ensure that each child labels his/her pot on the bottom.

Decorate the container using layers of thick paint, allowing the paint to dry completely between layers. Make sure that the container is covered really well. Glue the cut-out pictures or environmental materials onto the pot.

Fill the pot with potting mix and tap it down gently. Make a hole in the potting mix for the plant using a stick or scrap piece of wood. (Note: Potting mix contains microorganisms. Exercise care to avoid students inhaling any of the dust.)

Insert the plant in the potting mix and water gently in an open position. Place pot in a sheltered spot to drain until ready to take home.